Traveling Immortal(SAO and Persona 5 Royal Arcs)

Volume 89: Prince of Hell

Subtilizer and Sinon both continued firing at one another and one of those shots hit Sinon in her left knee. Her leg was completely shot off and the pain wasn't what got to her; it was the fear of not being able to fly properly anymore.

Kitsune who was damaged badly but had some wounds that need to regenerate

To this point, she had learned to control the voluntary flight system by kicking her legs against the air. Her first attempt at a sharp evasive turn turned into an ugly tailspin instead. Using the two wings of Darkness on her back was a no go as they wouldn't listen to her when she tried the shoulder blades trick from ALO. The wings were real but like Yami didn't have control over his powers even though they were still there, Sinon couldn't move the wings to help her with flight.

Sinon: Ugh.

She grunted and switched to the one bit of movement she knew she could manage: retreat straight backward. The stream of blood shooting from her left leg created a vivid red line in the air before her.

Sinon aimed at Subtilizer as she pushed backward at the maximum possible speed and fired a third bullet. But her enemy, who pursued with confidence, fired a fourth bullet from his own rifle.

When the three bullets travelled the exact same path from opposite ends, they met with a horribly discordant twang, creating a shower of sparks and knocking each bullet off to the side to vanish into nothingness.

She pulled back the bolt handle to expel both the empty cartridge and the growing fear in her lungs and then fired a fourth shot. Again, two thunderbolts overlapped. The collision of bullets in midair unleashed a massive amount of kinetic energy and sent them both spiralling away.

A fifth shot. Sixth, Seventh, Eighth.

The results were exactly the same. Subtilizer was intentionally shooting on Sinon's rhythm and hitting her shots in the air- that much was clear.

Obviously, in the real world, and even GGO, this was impossible. But imagination trumped all in this place. Because Subtilizer was international doing this, and Sinon was anticipating that outcome, the impossible phenomenon of supersonic bullets striking one another became reality.

But despite this, there were only three actions Sinon could take: Yank the bolt, take aim, pull the trigger.

The seventh bullet deflected off to the left with a mournful scream.

Discharge. Aim.

Click.

Click, click. The striker did nothing beneath her finger.

A single magazine for the Hecate II was seven bullets. She had no backup.

But the Barrett XM500 could hold then. He had two shots left.

Despite being over a hundred yards away from him in the air, Sinon could clearly make out Subtilizer's cold smile.

He pointed the black gun. It spat fire.

Kitsune pulls Sinon away as the bullet barely hits her. He growls and Subtilizer stifled his recoil and put his eye to the scope to aim his final shot. That blue marble eye, magnified by the other end of the lens, pierced Kitsune's body.

Sinon: Kitsune!!

Kitsune: shit...body taken too much damage. Sinon don't be afraid....don't go back...

Then he was teleported away back to Yami's inner world.

Sinon: I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Asuna. I'm sorry, Rain. Yui. I'm sorry, Kirito. I'm Sorry... Yami.

No sooner had Sinon mouthed the words than the XM500's tenth bullet emerged from its jaw. A spiral of red flames propelled it, tracing the route Subtilizer envisioned, until it began closing in on her.